Microsoft is letting you buy games with Bitcoin

Microsoft has announced it’s collaborating with crypto-coin payment providers BitPay to allow people with Microsoft accounts to exchange Bitcoin for content.

US consumers with Bitcoins stashed away can now exchange them for Microsoft Store funds, allowing for the purchase of games apps, videos and music for Windows, Xbox and Windows Phone formats.

Announcing the Bitcoin payment rollout yesterday VP of Universal Store at Microsoft, Eric Lockard noted the mutual benefits to be gained: "For us, this is about giving people options and helping them do more on their devices and in the cloud, " and added that, “the use of digital currencies such as bitcoin, while not yet mainstream, is growing beyond the early enthusiasts. We expect this growth to continue and allowing people to use bitcoin to purchase our products and services now allows us to be at the front edge of that trend."

Microsoft is keeping the usage of Bitcoin to buy its wares within the Windows Store or stores that house Xbox Games, Xbox Music or Xbox Video and is limiting the amount of the crypto-currency you can exchange to $1,000 or local currency equivalent (currently around £630 in the UK), but still that should bag you quite a haul of games.